Rate it against your personal pantheon of comic book movies.
Right now, Superman Returns is my favorite comic book movie ever, but that's 99% residual glow from the fact that it was the last one I saw, and it was AWESOME. I have to see it again and let it digest more before it can be properly ranked.
It's got a grandeur that's completely absent from the X-movies (appropriate for their subject matter, but it was something I wasn't sure Singer could do), and the pacing is very elegant and operatic. You really get a sense of Superman as Big Tragic God, both from Routh's performance and from the arc of the narrative. Like Batman Begins and the Spider-Man movies, it does a great job of matching the tone of the film to the tone of the superhero -- there is no question at all that this is a Superman movie. It's just wonderful.
PS, your list is missing Hulk, Darkman and The Incredibles.
PS, your list is missing Hulk, Darkman and The Incredibles.
'Cept The Incredibles weren't in comic books first....
Neither was Darkman - doesn't matter! Still comic book movies.
(But if we're going strictly by source material and not movie content, the list is missing Ghost World, V for Vendetta and American Splendor.)
(And League of Extradordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, but the less said about those, the better.)
You really get a sense of Superman as Big Tragic God, both from Routh's performance and from the arc of the narrative.
Hmm. See I've never really seen Superman portrayed as tragic. He SHOULD have been (and may well have been in comics I've never read) given the whole last of his planet and all (as far as he knows - that got revised a few times), but I can't recall seeing him done that way.
Confirming postings by director Jon Favreau, Marvel and Paramount announced that Iron Man is staking out a May 2, 2008, release date, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Favreau alluded to the date in a posting on his Iron Man MySpace.com site.
The Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment film will be an adaptation of the Marvel Comics armored superhero. The project marks the first motion picture to be produced by Marvel under its alliance with the studio.
Iron Man is the first feature film to be produced independently by Marvel Entertainment and also marks the first production under former Marvel Studios chief executive officer Avi Arad's newly launched production company, Avi Arad Productions. The film is expected to be financed through Marvel's $525 million revolving film-financing facility.
Nah nah nah-nah-nah. Nahnahnahnah nah-nah nah nah nah.
[link]
Hmm. See I've never really seen Superman portrayed as tragic. He SHOULD have been
He does have a tragic song. OK, more of a sad song:
Tarzan wasn't a ladies' man
He'd just come along and scoop 'em up under his arm
Like that, quick as a cat in the jungle
But Clark Kent now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin' around in no
Junglescape, dumb as an ape doing nothing
Supermen never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him
Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he could have smashed through any bank
In the United States, he had the strength, but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Their planet crumbled but Superman, he forced himself
To carry on, forget Krypton, and keep going
Tarzan was king of the jungle and Lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together four words: "I Tarzan, You Jane. "
Sometimes when Supe was stopping crimes
I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back
On man, join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city, and kept on changing clothes
In dirty old phonebooths till his work was through
And nothing to do but go on home
It is definitely established that in the movieverse, he is the last Kryptonian -- his 5 year absence was spent flying back to the ruins of Krypton specifically to check that out. (Not a spoiler, as this is basically the text of the opening crawl.)
I can't quite explain what I mean by tragic. I definitely don't mean "sad." There's a certain scale to the Superman mythos (this version, anyway) that makes his inability to fully participate in human society something that requires a big academic Greek-related word like "tragedy," even though he, as a character, doesn't waste any time moping around feeling bad for himself.
It is definitely established that in the movieverse, he is the last Kryptonian -- his 5 year absence was spent flying back to the ruins of Krypton specifically to check that out.
What about his dog, Krypton?
eta: Krypto, right?
Damn, I though Favreau was working on a John Carter of Mars picture.
I am with Jessica in thinking that comic book movies aren't limited to adaptations of particular comic books. Partly because then I can count Unbreakable as a comic book movie.
(But if we're going strictly by source material and not movie content, the list is missing Ghost World, V for Vendetta and American Splendor.)
Also, Flash (aa-aaah) Gordon.
And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
